Brian Cookson says UCI "on the case" over Colombian women's team kit

But could it all be a trick of the light? The BBC is taking no chances

More background has emerged over the origin of the Colombian women's team kit that has been the centre of probably the biggest cycling-gear-related social media furore ever, and UCI president Brian Cookson announced yesterday that the organisation was "on the case."

A report from Spanish website ABC.es says that the IDRD-Bogota Humana-San Mateo-Solgar kit was designed by team rider Angie Rojas, according to Bogota Cycling League president Carlos Orlando Ferreira Pinzón.

Ferreira said that the team had been competing in this clothing without comment until this image from the team presentation at the women's Tour of Tuscany went whizzing round the world.

Yesterday evening, cycling's world governing body weighed in with this tweet from president Brian Cookson:

To the many who have raised the issue of a certain women's team kit, we are on the case. It is unacceptable by any standard of decency.

A few people responded that there were bigger problems in women's cycling than this kit. Marcos Marín said: "I think there are lots of more important issues in #womenscycling to fix than a brown kit. That race i.e."

Last year the Giro Toscana saw over half the field abandon on the final day because of safety issues, which Marín clearly thinks is rather more important than how a few skinsuits look on a presentation podium.

It also turns out that the problem could be, quite literally, a trick of the light. Cycling journalist Ben Atkins, who follows women's racing closely, tweeted:

@BrianCooksonUCI Can I suggest a response like: "OMG you won't believe this, but in some lights the GOLD bits on your kit look a bit flesh."

Our official grumpy Northerner, John has been riding bikes for over 30 years since discovering as an uncoordinated teen that a sport could be fun if it didn't require you to catch a ball or get in the way of a hulking prop forward.

Road touring was followed by mountain biking and a career racing in the mud that was as brief as it was unsuccessful.

Somewhere along the line came the discovery that he could string a few words together, followed by the even more remarkable discovery that people were mug enough to pay for this rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work. He's pretty certain he's worked for even more bike publications than Mat Brett.

The inevitable 30-something MAMIL transition saw him shift to skinny tyres and these days he lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.